Watermelon Pumpkins and T'antawawas

We're headed into our last week of raising $ through Navidad En Bolivia to buy a Christmas gift for each kid at The Center.  Because we have to move by the 6th, the 4th is our Christmas party with the kids.  If you are interested in sponsoring a Christmas gift for a child at The Center, please visit:

http://www.navidadenbolivia.info/  A gift is $18/per child and you can go on the website to see the faces of each of the kids at The Center.  We only have 12 of the 60 kids sponsored so far.  Help us reach our goal of giving each kid a special gift for Christmas!

Laura & Reyna

two girls who need sponsors for Christmas

Fall and the holidays, traditions and customs that normally go with it in the States usually go by the wayside in Bolivia.  As a way of coping with the homesickness, I've looked for ways to celebrate some of the traditions as normal.  I've made homemade apple cider and applesauce, and figured out how to get the ingredients for the recipe of pumpkin bread that my mom always makes.  Plus, I've enjoyed the gifts of dried fall leaves that I received in a care package from my Gramma:)

my watermelon jack-o-lantern

Halloween, though, happens to coincide with its equally pagan equivalent, Todos Santos, in Bolivia.  Todos Santos is celebrated on the 2nd of November, and is a national holiday.  Halloween was never a big deal in my family, but some of my favorite memories growing up come from carving the family pumpkin out on our porch.  So, this year I decided to carve a watermelon as a way to remember all the special family times together.  Pumpkins in Bolivia are about the size of a stove top and are green, so that was hardly a practical choice for me to carve:)  I will say that carving a watermelon was quite the undertaking...  I ended up making watermelon juice, watermelon cubes and putting watermelon in everything I made that week.  Even my tiny little watermelon had a LOT of watermelon fruit!!

me w/ my watermelon jack-o-lantern 

Todos Santos ended up being another treat.  Completely on their own, my friends initiated a get-together with all our old group of friends.  The last time we all hung out was when my parents were here in January!  I've seen them all individually, but some are in college and others have tricky work schedules, so it wasn't until last Tuesday that we all finally were together again.  The boys prepared the meal (pollo al horno, a traditional Bolivian dish of oven-roasted chicken, plantains, potatoes, sweet potatoes and salad) and the girls helped with the details:)

 cooking pollo al horno

After eating a wonderful meal on the roof of my apartment building, we sat around the table telling stories, catching up, and talking about all that we missed.  Then we went back to the kitchen to make t'antawawas (bread babies, in quechua).  T'antawawas are a traditional sweet treat during Todos Santos.  Normally they're made as a crispy, flat cookie in the shape of a person, but we got creative and made just about every shape there is!  I was so grateful for the chance to spend time with all my friends all together, grateful for God's provision through their initiation and intentionality, not mine, and for the fullness I felt seeing my house full of people.

some of my favorite people
Alejandro, Daniel (little brothers of Briseyda and Reynaldo)
Briseyda, Andreina, Reynaldo, Humberto & Rosalia

Thank you for your continued prayers for The Center.  We still don't have a place lined up, but are waiting on the Lord and trying to put Philippians 4:6 into practice.  I'll keep you posted!

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 

Philippians 4:6